The Life Triangle of Energy, Money and Time

The following sermon notes are adapted from Rev Aries Zulkarnain's preaching at City Harvest Church 5 p.m. service on 30 June 2018.

"Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce." Proverbs 3:9 (NLT)

Honour God with everything you own; give the first and the best. Learn how to prioritise; give importance to what is important. 

Let God be in the centre of all your priorities such as family, church and work or  studies as you take a deeper walk with Him.

While you could have got your priority right, you may still be struggling in life as you face shortfalls or inadequacies in the 3 sides of Life Triangle, namely, Energy, Money and Time.

When money is lacking, you may succumbed to make it a priority and shrink the other two sides of energy and time. Hence, you end up working longer hours and this, in turn, affect your productivity/health and social interaction time with loved ones. As a result, your life triangle becomes lopsided.

Regardless of age, the life triangle will still apply. This awareness will help to better prepare you for the journey. By and large, a teenager has lots of energy and time, but little money. A working adult has energy and money, and lack time at their disposal. As for those in old age, there is plenty of time and money, but a depleting tank of energy.

The Bible looks at time, money and energy as resources to grow. For example, this is illustrated in Matthew 25 which covers the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, Parable of the Talent and the Final Judgment.

The following verse offers an insight on how life can be maintained in good balance and even expand the life triangle such that there will be more energy, money and time.  

"In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone." 2 Peter 1:5 (NLT)

The way to balance your life is not just about aligning your priorities. It’s about learning and changing from inside out. Use your resources to grow your inner circle of faith, character, skills/creativity, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection and love. Grow from the inside out and your triangle will grow. 

View energy-money-and-time as resources rather than priorities. Use the resources to upgrade your inner core and relationship with both God and people. A bigger inner circle will then be able to hold up a bigger triangle.